Getting The Jump On Analog/RF IP


When Magma Design was sold to Synopsys in 2012, then-president and COO Roy Jewell sat down with VC Lucio Lanza to figure out what to do next. As Jewell tells it, Lanza convinced him not to take another job. While it’s too early to tell if that was sage advice, it did trigger a search for a new business and a way of funding it. Jewell said that when Magma went looking for money, it raised $... » read more

Can Verification Meet In The Middle?


Semiconductor Engineering sat down to discuss these issues with; Stan Sokorac, senior principal design engineer for [getentity id="22186" comment="ARM"]; Frank Schirrmeister, senior group director for product marketing for the system development suite of [getentity id="22032" e_name="Cadence"]; Harry Foster, chief verification scientist at [getentity id="22017" e_name="Mentor Graphics"], Bernie... » read more

Softbank To Buy ARM For $32.34B


By Ed Sperling & Ann Steffora Mutschler Japan's Softbank will acquire ARM for $32.34 billion, according to an agreement made public this morning. The deal has the backing of ARM's board of directors, which unanimously will recommend ARM shareholders approve it, according to a company statement. Under the terms of the deal, Softbank will at least double employee headcount in the United... » read more

How Cache Coherency Impacts Power, Performance


Managing how the processors in an SoC talk to one another is no small feat, because these chips often contain multiple processing units and caches. Bringing order to these communications is critical for improving performance and [getkc id="106" kc_name="reducing power"]. But it also requires a detailed understanding of how data moves, the interaction between hardware and software, and what c... » read more

No More Easy IP Money


The semiconductor intellectual property ([getkc id="43" kc_name="IP"]) industry is two decades old, but questions are still being asked about what's wrong with it and what needs to be fixed. Normally these kinds of issues are reserved for fast-moving, young industries, not one that is the backbone of semiconductors. Design reuse has become an indispensable part of the design of nearly all el... » read more

Designing An Efficient DSP Solution


A look at the key challenges in DSP implementation from both hardware and software application perspectives, and how a properly selected and configured DSP processor coupled with an advanced software development toolchain can overcome these challenges. This white paper describes how to generate tight, efficient, and maintainable DSP code for a platform consisting of an IP core based on a specia... » read more

Securing Chips During Manufacturing


David Lam, chairman of Multibeam, sat down with Semiconductor Engineering to talk about how next-gen lithography tools can be used to prevent cyber attacks and counterfeiting of hardware. SE: How did you get into the anti-counterfeiting business? Lam: About three years ago we were working with some customers that were troubled by the counterfeiting problem. We became aware of that sense o... » read more

Abundant Change Ahead


There is nobody who would question the amazing ride that semiconductors have been on for the past 50 years. It has been described as the longest running exponential that humankind has ever been a part of—and it is not over yet. Still, the future is very likely to be substantially different from the past. It is almost natural for us to see a trend and assume it will continue. There have bee... » read more

EDA, IP Sales Up


EDA and IP revenue increased 4.5% in Q1, a significant increase given the semiconductor industry was flat last year and that EDA sales dropped 1.9% in Q4 of 2015. Total sales were $1.962 billion, up from $1.877 in Q1 of 2015. The big surprise, though, was Japan, which grew 12%. Japan's semiconductor business has been in a deep slump for several years. "It's been a long time since we've se... » read more

Can Verification Meet In The Middle?


Since the dawn of time for the EDA industry, the classic V diagram has defined the primary design flow. On the left hand side of the V, the design is progressively refined and partitioned into smaller pieces. At the bottom of the V, verification takes over and as you travel up the right-hand side of the V, verification and integration happens until the entire design has been assembled and valid... » read more

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